


Untethered - Extended Universe

by Vixen13



Series: Here Be Dragons [2]
Category: Deadpool - All Media Types, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Dragons, Extended Universe, Other, info dump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-23 06:32:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14929026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vixen13/pseuds/Vixen13
Summary: By request, here is everything you could ever possibly want to know (hopefully) about my Spideypool Dragon AU collected into one place.





	1. Information Key

**Author's Note:**

> Since I'm gonna be late with the next chapter again, have this as a consolation prize.
> 
> If you have any extra questions, please ask in the comments and I'll add the info into this somewhere.
> 
> I was not able to find a beta reader for this. Sorry if there are any weird typos.

Hello my lovelies! I was asked to compile all the extra info I had done on world building for Untethered into one place so it could be referenced. That seemed so doable until I realized how many pages of notes that was already. Oh dear. So I’ve worked hard at this and written things up as best I can. I’ll be breaking everything up into sections for easier access to the information.

**Obviously, there are going to be some world building spoilers!** If you haven’t read Untethered or if you want to discover all the world building through the narrative, then I recommend not reading this. However, if you want to know it all and know it all now, then this is the resource for you!

 

_ Things that will be covered: _

Information Key

Geography, creative influences, and government of Floa Bral

Geography, creative influences, and government of Kocrax

Travel

Soil and Poop

Religion

  * In Floa Bral
  * In Kocrax



Dragon 101

Dowhea and Ostor

Thoughts on Language and Culture

  
  
  


First, let’s collect the entire information key into one spot.

 

**Information key:**

 

Floa Bral:  _ Peter’s home country, known for its prosperous lands. _

King J. Jonah Jameson:  _ King of Floa Bral _

Brals:  _ Citizens of Floa Bral _

Bralish:  _ The language of Floa Bral _   
Droana:  _ Capital of Floa Bral _

The King’s Road:  _ Wide paved road in Floa Bral that connects to allied counties surrounding it and lead to Droana. Each city or town builds and maintains their own roads that connect to the the King’s Road. _

 

Kocrax:  _ Wade’s home country, known for being the only nation with dragons. _

Craxians:  _ Citizens of Kocrax. _

Craxan:  _ The language of Kocrax (excluding dialects). _

 

Ostor:  _ Southern province of Kocrax, lead by Nathan (Cable). _

Dowhea:  _ Eastern province of Kocrax, lead by Neena (Domino). _

Swujan:  _ Northern province of Kocrax, lead by Wade (Deadpool). _

Whaytho:  _ Current capital of Swujan province. _

East Side:  _ Part of the city located east of the river. _

Scoajan Mountains:  _ Mountain range to the north of Whaytho where the wyvern live. _

Sahmset Mountain:  _ Part of the Scoajan Mountains, the closest mountain to Whaytho. _

The Three Sisters:  _ Three mesa with cities built into them that have control of a paeyo flight territory. The cities are named Xolis, Yirie, and Zrauset. Each city has a giant carving around the mesa depicting one of the dragon gods [Xolis (Sakit), Yirie (Arev), Zrauset (Ts’av)]. _

Yirie:  _ A city of The Three Sisters. Tony Masters is Nomark of the city and Otto Octavius is the Minister of Public Works. _

 

Q’otha:  _ Sovereign nation between Kocrax and Floa Bral, contains biggest port city, major trading hub _ .

Cethad:  _ Large country to the north of Q’otha, lead by King Nick Fury. _

 

Karusson:  _ Stocky, flightless dragons used for labor. _

Paeyo:  _ Dragons with naturally armored scales. Used primarily for long distance flights, battle, and protection of territory. _

Wyvern:  _ Fire breathing dragons that live in the Scoajan Mountains. Largest species of dragons. _

Gyumorin:  _ Seafaring dragons that live by the east coast of Kocrax in the Dowhea province. _

K'vishna:  _ Canyon glider dragons that live in the great canyons to the south in the Ostor province. _

 

_ The Dragon Gods _

Sakit - female god, life and love, brings calm growing rains or floods to wash away the earth and renew it (lovers)

Arev - male god, anger and destruction, protects all dragons and bringer of storms (lovers)

Ts’av - no gender, controls existence of universe and the rising and setting of sun with their breath, lives beyond the stars

 

Flight:  _ A group of dragons. The equivalent to a pack, pride, or herd. _

Gella:  _ Dragon dung and vegetation formed into a hard brick and used as a burning fuel source. It burns brighter, hotter, and longer than any other current useable fuel source in any known country. _

Litham:  _ A mouth-veil that attaches to a head covering to protect the wearer from sun and dust during travel. _

Mesa and butte:  _ Tableland, a hill or mountain with a flat top resembling a table. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_(landform) _


	2. Geography, creative influences, and government of Floa Bral.

Floa Bral is mostly inland with a strip of coast in the southeast, along the bottom of the country’s border. It makes them the closest port to Q’otha, which gives them a lot of trading power. Rivers run through Floa Bral liberally, leading a lot of northern trade into their land and a lot of exports into the southern countries. The rivers also provide irrigation for the land, making them prosperous during growing season, even when rainfall is low.

The sovereign nation of Q’otha is under Floa Bral’s umbrella, which adds to the country’s power. All citizens of Q’otha are able to move freely into Floa Bral and petition for land if they so choose. Floa Bral is the acting military force on Q’otha and keeps it safe. In return, Q’otha pays taxes to Floa Bral and does not charge them for port fees.

Allied countries surround Floa Bral, keeping it mostly insular against attack. Cethad only shares a small amount of border with Floa Bral and have been on good terms until recently. They were never officially part of the Allied Nations, but that was for political reasons in order to hike export prices to other countries when opportunity presented itself.

The Forty Year War started when an allied country to the west fell into civil war and divided the country. A military force took advantage of that divide in order to charge on Floa Bral. It is largely assumed that owning Floa Bral means owning the Allied Nations. Floa Bral was then petitioned for help by both sides of the civil war for aid. This meant splitting forces between three battle fronts while trying to help negotiate an agreement between both sides of the country in unrest.

The other Allied Nations sent scant military forces, deeming it not their problem and a “lesson” to the country at war with itself. The other nations believed Floa Bral capable of defending itself. The problem was that most of the border cities were not prepared for invasion after generations of feeling content in the knowledge that their alliances kept them safe. The Parker estate was to the south of the breach, but was overwhelmed when winter pushed the invading soldiers south in order to buy more time away from the snow.

Floa Bral is a mix of influences from Great Britain, France, and Italy. The Allied Nations are vaguely in reference to some of the other countries in Europe. The southern nations include a strange mix my brain created of Hispanic/Latino in a single country as well as knock-off India. The northern nations, including Cethad, are knock-off Greenland/Iceland and so on.

Government is very classic gentry setup being: King -> Queen -> Prince -> Princess -> Archduke -> Grand Duke -> Duke -> Marquis -> Earl -> Baron -> Baronet -> Lord of the Manor -> Knight -> Patrician -> Squire -> Gentleman. 

Peter (and prior to him his uncle, prior to that Peter’s father) is a Lord of the Manor. He had a small plot of land in comparison to higher ranks, but still a good amount of people under his protection. That land was taken over by invading forces, leaving him a charge of the King. Peter would have had a chance to take back that land once all of the invaders of the war were cleared out, but Peter did not get the chance to petition for the loan needed to fund the rebuilding of his lands. When Peter was married off, the lands went back into holding under the King and can be issued to someone else in the future.

Norman Osborn comes from a merchant family that did well and climbed the ranks through noble contracts and favor. This ended with him earning the title of Gentleman, thus making Harry a Gentleman as well. They have permission to attend open court events, thus Harry and Peter’s friendship after Peter arrived at the palace.


	3. Geography, creative influences, and government of Kocrax

Here is my shitty, not to scale, not what I really want it to be, and terrible dimension map:

https://68.media.tumblr.com/d53bcf32ca66a55a84f6ad4ad2692204/tumblr_p3lg9aIa401vi13qbo1_1280.jpg

Kocrax is roughly the size and shape of Russia, but with the conditions of North African and Arab countries. The desert like conditions are not all caused by climate, but by the circumstances of the dragons and the high alkaline levels of the soil. Thus, it should be  _ somewhat _ more temperate than it is.

These climates are known for metals, particularly copper. With the added factor of lumber being limited, Kocrax has a high efficiency with stone and metalworking. As seen in some of the setup in the cities, blacksmithing skills are high, but as Kocrax is not known for their advanced skills in any field, this would make it harder to add finished products (which sell more) rather than raw material as an export. So trading finished metalworking products is more of a long-term goal at the point we’re at in the story.

Cultural influences I chose pulled heavily from Arab and African countries, but also Mongolia and the Ottoman empire which had a heavy impact over a lot of land during the general time period I set this story in. For the most part, I put a lot more time in solidifying the culture and geography of Kocrax since we spent more time in the story there. So I grabbed a bunch of things I thought would fit into my overall idea of the country, and then built Kocrax from the ground up.

Kocrax is surrounded by ocean on all sides and is connected only to Q’otha, which acts as an isthmus into Floa Bral. There are three provinces to Kocrax in the north, south, and east. The west is dominated by paeyo who are highly territorial and will fight any dragons or humans seen entering their territory. Their presence also makes the land infertile. Starvation from overpopulation is the biggest threat for wild paeyo as they are top of the food chain in their area.

Paeyo are short flight dragons. They have the lowest stamina of the five main dragons used for riding (karusson, paeyo, wyvern, gyumorin, and k'vishna). They don’t typically need a lot of stamina as flight boundaries change often depending on the size of the flight, whether they’ve won another flight’s territory to add to their own, or if a dominant male is pushed out of the flight and goes to seek its own mate to start a new flight. Paeyo mostly fly in short bursts and rest/walk/climb for long periods in between.

Thus, paeyo cannot handle the strong winds and sudden storms of the sea. They don’t go anywhere near the coast, leaving a large chunk of land uninhabited around the shorelines. This land thrives with other wildlife as it’s not affected by the high alkaline soils and has more plantlife. There’s a slow transition of greener areas from the border of Q’otha to the start of the paeyo territory deserts.

Theoretically, Craxians could farm or build on this land, which would make a solid port and trading city for them pushed up against the border of Q’otha. Unfortunately, the other countries know that. Kocrax is seen as a threat because of their dragons. More prosperous countries believe that allowing Kocrax too much freedom in trade would cause them to grow too strong and have the potential for mass takeover.

So building on the land close to Q’otha is forbidden and Floa Bral long ago issued a statement that it would be seen as an act of war since Q’otha is under their protection. Since Kocrax cannot afford to lose any trading potential, they have not attempted to build there. Some chiefs have considered waging war in order to take that swath of land anyways, but the cost of that would be detrimental on the economy so it was never followed through.

As for the east and south coasts, they do have ports and mainly trade among themselves as wood is still scarce, so getting seaworthy ships is not an easy task. The south occasionally trades with ships willing to make the long trek to the Kocrax port for goods. Most of the exports in other countries come from primarily the southern province and occasionally the northern province for this reason.

The north is comprised of many mountain ranges and is wyvern territory. Not only do the mountains make it difficult to move goods to the sea in order to make use of a port, but wyvern hunt in a large area around the ocean. Wyvern mostly reside in the mountains, but will also hunt in the valleys and fertile land between the ranges. So building on or farming that land is impossible. Thus, the far north and the coast is unattainable, but it also protects the northern province from any possible invaders.

In the center of the country is a large limestone deposit said to be made from the fallen body of an ancient dragon. It travels in a shifting line from north to south with many offshoots. All provinces pull from the mines there. This area also serves as the cut off between paeyo territory and k’vishna territory.

The leadership is Kocrax was a mixture of available options that I created. Each province governs themselves, but the setup is mostly the same:

Chief - leader of province

Vizier - enacts laws and judgements issued by Chief

Nomark - head of a city, reports to Chief

Minister [title] - oversees completion of certain tasks (army, treasury, public works)

Scribe - gentry equivalent

-Queen Mother - head of education and women, in charge of bondings, births, and funerals. Equivalent power to Chief.

-High Priestess - keeper of knowledge and ancient wisdom of the gods

-Priestesses - serve High Priestess and Queen Mother in tasks

Guards are considered the active military force. They report to the city’s Nomark, or in the capital city, to the Vizier. Guards are paid monetarily for their service, but are also first in line for food stipends when resources are scarce. This is a huge incentive for joining and maintaining loyalty to the governing body. Men and women are allowed to be guards. Only male guards were brought to Floa Bral for the war because it was determined that it would only make things harder among Brals soldiers for female guards to fight in a contingent that was already foreign.

Crime in Kocrax is punished by a period of indentured servitude, at every age. The cost of refusing punishment or running from it is death. The type or work and the length of time is determined by either the Chief personally, based on mandates kept by the Vizier, or in some cases, dictated by an appointed Scribe.

Chiefs (and typically their wives), heirs, Viziers, and Nomarks will have a collection of Scribes that attend them. Scribes hold great wealth, power, and influence based on their own personal achievements. They will have valuable information about the cities they are involved in, particularly in regards to concerns from citizens, which will help in leadership decisions. In the story, Wade’s council is disguised as his personal Scribes.


	4. Travel

I took into account that back during the colonization of the West in American history, a wagon train of a decently sized group of people traveling over various terrain for about 2000 miles took 3-6 months. I also looked up a single man traveling along roads in the modern day with two horses and a full loaded wagon. He covered 600 miles in 9.5 weeks across hilly terrain, but also across modern roads. 

This was the basis of the math I was using to calculate the world I built and to take into consideration that karusson can help their group travel up to 30-35 miles in a day on flat land when normally 25 miles in a day would be the maximum on horseback. Of course, a large contingent of soldiers would slow a group down considerably, usually covering only 10-15 miles a day or less. I did a lot to compensate for that.

They covered a lot of ground in Floa Bral fairly fast due to the King's Road, as it is well maintained and large. They slowed significantly once they left that road in order to make a straight line to the northern border of Q’otha instead of taking the King’s Road down to Floa Bral’s docks and catching the trade roads into Q’otha to the south.

Floa Bral is a fairly large country comparably to those around it, but nothing in comparison to Kocrax. After Floa Bral, they passed through Q’otha which didn’t take nearly as much time due to how small it is. There are many trade roads in Q’otha which helps to facilitate travel. Once in Kocrax, they followed a specific and winding path through the wild paeyo territories in order to make it to the northern province of Swujan. Most of this land is fairly flat and traveled often enough that the troop knew how to navigate it.

Karusson can take the place of 2-3 horses in regards to their strength and speed pulling a cart. There is usually one karusson per cart, two if the load is particularly heavy. Carts are generally comprised of as much metal as possible since wood is not an easily available resource. The giant horses of Kocrax are not based on any real life breed. I made them up entirely. I wanted them to be large, strong, and fast, which are usually mutually exclusive in horse breeds, but if I can have dragons, I can have fantasy horses.

Craxians tend to ride bareback on both horses and dragons. Dragons are not well equipped to handle saddles and reins of the traditional sort. This was not particularly compensated for because Craxians are used to riding horses bareback, so it wasn’t much of a transition for them. Both dragons and horses are ridden most commonly with only stirrups and reins. All Craxians learn to ride without stirrups and reins and a few prefer it as they feel it helps them form a stronger bond with their animal.

Ringing bareback is mostly about balance in the same way that riding a bike is. It is also about keeping your seat with your thighs rather than the saddle. Growing up riding bareback is going to provide a person with impressive thigh strength and balance, which makes it easier to transition to dragon riding.

Travel between provinces or delivering messages is done almost entirely with flying dragons. Ostor is the only province that would not have this option because their dragons are gliders. Dowhea has many options as their dragons vary in size to a great degree.

Ostor has the only dock that sees trade from outside their nation on a semi-regular basis. That makes them a cornerstone of trade in Kocrax and the other provinces will typically travel to them rather than the other way around.


	5. Soil and Poop

The amount of research I have done for the pH levels of soil is extensive. There are also little things I have dropped into the story based on this as well. Ash and limestone create heavy alkaline (base) products. You can filter water through ash to make your own lye. Chemicals that are heavy in base do the same thing as acid to organic material. Small amount of lye can be used for cleaning, but large amounts can be used for dissolving organic material.

Limestone is at the heart of Kocrax and a major factor in their culture, both in architecture and their land. As limestone is alkaline heavy, it sets up a basis for creatures adapting to that. This is seen in paeyo biology with their high alkaline spit and feces. This spreads the problem in the soil to cover an even greater area.

The pH levels of soil will grow different kinds of plants. The chat for pH levels range from 0-14, zero being battery acid, 6 being milk, and 14 being lye. Soil should range between 5-8. High acid soils create sweeter things like citrus, nightshades, and berries, while high alkaline create more earthy root vegetables. Most grains are in the mid ranges and can grow in a fairly wide margin. Floa Bral has acidic soil and Kocrax has alkaline. The problem is that much of the soil in the west and north are such high levels that nothing can grow.

Diluting alkaline and then adding back in healthy fertilizer is something Craxians know how to do. However, fertilizer available is made from people and animals living off of a high alkaline diet. With no high acid products to help balance out the soil, this means alkaline levels can only drop so much, and usually only in small and contained areas like gardens.

Kocrax lives in a range of 6.5 to 8 pH range depending on the area. I do a lot of crop research in this range. Crop rotations are also something that Kocrax does, but they do not have a lot variety to work with to help replenish the soil. Putting a fallow field into rotation has been the main way they have compensated for this in the past.

Lack of crop rotation is exacerbated in a food crisis. Row crops, which are the ones people eat, are the ones that deplete soil the fastest. A full four field rotation should include, row crop, legumes, grasses or cereals, and green manure. As cereals are not easily grown in Kocrax, this leaves two rotations without food for the masses, and one that is not as nutritionally sound. At the mid point of the story, the decision was shown that the council decided to push the production of row crops during the time that Wade was at war for Floa Bral.

Looking further into poop and fertilizer, Kocrax can be considered very clean because poop is valuable. All dragon poop is collected to make gella. When the soldiers were at war, they collected it in order to have something available for trade. In Kocrax, gella is used for everything because wood is rare and valuable. So all dragon poop is collected in the cities and brought to either the big gella presses, or personal home presses.

Human and farm animal poop is also collected and brought to a single location that processes it for fertilizer (or kept and used personally in home gardens). They have to use as much as possible to help balance out the infertile soil, particularly during the push in row crops. As for urine, that has long since been collected in many countries as a cleaner. Further, since clean water can be rare in Kocrax, urine is often used for “watering” home gardens.

As for any droppings missed in Floa Bral, it won't be that big of a deal. It will add some high alkaline content to the soil, but Floa Bral has high acidity soil as it is and a lot of rain, so it'll disperse and neutralize fairly quickly. The biggest concern is the spit, but domesticated paeyo don't spit, so that would have never happened in Floa Bral.


	6. Religion

_ in Floa Bral _

 

As for the religion of Floa Bral, it was originally based on a concept I had designed for an original novel years ago. I wrote all of the notes down for that story and then never did anything with it. Go me. For this story, I did augment the religion some to make it unique to the world.

So, the original religion setup I borrowed from for Floa Bral is that there are two gods, male and female. Men do not pray to the female god (with specific and rare exceptions, but never consistently), and women are not allowed to pray to the male god ever in any circumstance. It's seen as an insult to the male god. The female god resides over womanly things and the male god does all the "actual work."

For Floa Bral, I added in the saints. (If you really wanna get meta, it could be how the same religion in different countries is worshiped differently, much the same as denominations sometimes. Anywho.) The saints are there to take the burden of what is seen as petty and personal prayers off of the main gods. So the churches and priests (and nun equivalent) will handle "what is needed" with the main gods for the overall benefit of the people and nation. The saints look after individual needs and protect the devout when necessary from the trials of life. The saints care because they were once human so they empathize with the individual more than the whole.

Historically speaking, gods are busy, distracted, selfish, horny, petty, vengeful, and easily insulted. The concept of a single nurturing god that has a personal effect on the lives of every single person at all times without stretching the limits of their power or focus is rather new in the grand scheme of things. So the gods of this story hit a rather odd in between of these two concepts. I'd like to imagine the people at a point in history, idea of what a god is supposed to be is shifting with their knowledge of the world and intellectual growth as a whole. Thus, Kocrax has more traditional views on selfish gods, and Floa Bral has more of a concept of caring gods, but they still have a hold over in the belief that you must do what you can to keep the gods happy. A pissed off god is a vengeful god.

So, saints answer individual needs. So when someone is praying for their sick mother to get better, or to win a duel, or for anything that would directly impact their lives or the direct lives of those around them, a saint is who you pray to.

Women have more freedom in concerns of "strictly feminine" things as they can pray to the female god to get pregnant, for a safe childbirth, to have love return to a failing marriage, or to find an ideal suitor. These are feminine things and something that you would not burden a saint with unless that saint was female (which is rare).

Priests pray for things that directly affect the health of the nation. War, foreign affairs, harvest, weather, the health of the king and his family (as that directly affects the nation), and anything that would affect a large group of people, in example, spiritual health for the masses (including converting any non-religious or other-religion people in their borders that would otherwise "taint" the religious health of those around them).

The female god would also cover the health of the queen and her fertility, and the health of her child and praying for its gender if the king is in need of a son. The nun equivalent (that I have yet to name, obviously) would handle praying for that. They would also pray for overall altruism of the people in Floa Bral in order to help the poor and/or homeless children. They are also the ones who run the orphanages and offer shelter and food to the homeless during the winter, so long as the church is funded enough to maintain those services.

Floa Bral works more on offerings than sacrifice. So incense to the gods or money to the church — so that the church can do what they need to appease the gods and care for the people. For saints, you would offer something that they were known to enjoy in life. So their favorite food, flower, perfume, and so on. It's not necessary to make an offering to a saint, but it will better your chances of being heard because it shows your respect to the saint. Humility to the religion is important in Floa Bral.

 

_ in Kocrax _

 

A bonding is not equivalent to marriage necessarily. A family unit can work and be perfectly happy without the need for bonding to happen. Marriage was initially created for legal, political, and line purity reasons and those are not necessary in Kocrax.

Bonding ceremonies happens slightly less often than marriages in other countries. This is because a marriage/bonding doesn't dictate a relationship in Kocrax. Some people are content to just live out their lives with a person or various persons in order to share their lives, raise children, and what have you without ever bonding.

Bonding is about connecting two souls and it's considered a very serious religious act. Whoever wants to come to help celebrate and bless the bonding can. So friends and family, typically, and occasionally mentors or coworker equivalents. Sex during a bonding is considered a religious act and/or a type of prayer. Sex in general is not seen as a taboo.

Someone asked about asexuals in these situation, but that is left up to the person or persons involved. There is a difference between asexual and sex repulsed, though not mutually exclusive. An asexual person can choose with their partner/s if they want to participate in someone else’s or their own bonding ceremony and having multiple partners can help alleviate any pressure they may otherwise have to participate in a sexual relationship with someone they are with.

Asexuality and religion would really be down to the individual’s choices and the needs/wants of their family unit. There is no cultural taboo against it, but that does not mean that issues couldn’t arise on an individual level. People are not perfect and those who experience sex as a deeply religious experience would have a harder time understanding someone not interested in it. On the flip side, an asexual person could chose to only have sex for religious reasons, but not for personal pleasure.

Dragon gods:

Sakit - female god, life and love, brings calm growing rains or floods to wash away the earth and renew it (lovers)

Arev - male god, anger and destruction, protects all dragons and bringer of storms (lovers)

Ts’av - no gender, controls existence of universe and the rising and setting of sun with their breath, lives beyond the stars

Dragon gods deal mostly with nature and any emotion that dragons would personally understand. The caring of their lover and family along with fighting off enemies would be something they would empathize with. So prayers of that nature would reach them. Also, if people pray for the land to be fruitful, it may not come in a form most would expect, like in the case of The Three Sisters. It was land that the people asked for, but in enemy territory. They had to fight and prove themselves worthy to claim and keep that territory.

Praying for the dessert to end would mean wishing the dragons did not inhabit the land. Since man moved into dragon country, the dragon gods care for their children and the lands first. So they would be more likely to smite a human for wishing for their own personal gain to the detriment of dragons. 

However, if you prayed for more green land, not just for the benefit of humans, but for the health of dragons, the gods would provide, so long as the human’s bargain of taking care of dragons is maintained. This comes in the form of domesticating dragons and keeping them well fed and healthy. (Though it is seen less as domestication and more as a symbiotic relationship.)

The Priestesses of Kocrax aren't really religious equivalent to the Priests and Nuns of Floa Bral. A Priestess is educated in religion, but also educated in as much as possible. They can lead prayer and teach how to pray and what to pray for, along with knowledge of the gods and their history. They are the leading experts in religious and philosophical debate. But for the most part, their job is to care for the minds and souls of the people, whereas the Chief cares for the bodies of the people and the safety of the land.

Above the Priestesses, and a leader in her own right for the social aspects of the province and country, is the Queen Mother. She handles most of the societal needs for her city of residence, and at a distance in other cities through well trained apprentices (one of which may take over in her place when she is no longer capable). The Queen Mother is seen as the person closest to Ts’av, and thus as divine as a person can become.

Common tasks for the Queen Mother include: overseeing education, overseeing the particular needs of women (including help and education on menstruation, pregnancy, birth, child rearing), performing the ritual for bonding ceremonies, blessing births (or personally helping deliver if available), and overseeing funerals.

In Kocrax, the dragon gods are considered to be real physical beings without all-pervasive powers. They believe the gods are just that big and the world responds to them accordingly. This is bound to go through some changes as they develop as a people, but not so much currently in the story.

With that in mind, it would be seen as a waste to sacrifice anything to them directly, since they won't be there to take the actual item. Neither would any item or food be enough to matter to gods of such grandeur and size. However, the gods are watchful and they appreciate acts of love and succeeding at battles. The kiss to calm the storm was a kind of offering to the gods in return for less dangerous weather.

In that same line of reasoning, proving your worth to the gods would make them favor you. So the Kocrax people fight all the time (as seen in the soldiers) because when you win, you also win the attention of the gods, showing that you're worthy to be heard.

Also, all dragons are considered descended from the gods themselves, so taking care of their children and the land they reside in is also a type of offering. So every time Craxians feed, care for, discipline, fight to overcome, and bond with a dragon, it's an offering to the gods that incurs their favor. The same with caring for the land and keeping it balanced.

So the dragon gods are more parental figures that you're trying to impress. Parental figures with simplistic mindsets and fickle emotions that don't really care if you live or die, but paternal nonetheless. The Kocrax people are aware that their ancestors moved into dragon territory, and in order to stay there, they must live by dragon rules. Whether that mindset will change is something to be seen in a few hundred years or so.


	7. Dragon 101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Including all 5 major dragon types from the story.

Animal behavior was important for me to nail down. I wanted the animals to have overall traits and instincts, but also distinct personalities. From the start, I knew that I was going to give paeyo more cat-like attributes, as those are my favorite dragon representations to see in media. A stray cat running up and stealing a piece of chicken and then awkwardly chewing on it as fast as possible is exactly how the young paeyo ate the jerky. But I also wanted to blend these idiosyncrasies with those of large birds of prey — and also the biology I created for them.

Bonding to a single person is very common in larger and more intelligent birds. Creating a dialect of calls for their group is also common. Paeyo will have different noises they make when they spot danger, other flights, food, incoming weather changes, and friendlier noises when they see their person or family group. Larger birds tend to be very intelligent, and that was a trait I really wanted to display in most of the dragons.

Except karusson. I've owned two cats that were rather inbred, so I wanted to give the karusson more of those attributes because they were a man-made breed with the potential to end up bred a little too close. So they tend to not have complex thought patterns and bumble around a lot. They also have a slew of possible health issues and need to be more closely cared for by humans.

I was against putting saddles on the necks of dragons from the beginning. This is super common to find in most dragon media, but I disagree with it. I compare this to carrying a toddler around on your shoulders. It’s totally possible, yes. However, if you want to do parkour with a toddler on your shoulders, it becomes dangerous to the both of you. Dragons in the midst of aerial battles would not benefit from shoulder/neck saddles.

Skydivers during tandem jumps will have the person strapped to them with their cores aligned. The center of balance in the core (around the belly button) is important in a lot of physical activities, including those in the air. Even weight distribution is key during tandem jumps, as well as single jumps to keep you from spinning out of control. So especially for medium sized dragons that would be more affected by the weight of a rider, I wanted to make sure that everything was evenly distributed.

I also opted against most saddle and harness options placed in other areas. Most of this was logistics as I didn’t want to pierce the dragons’ wings since that could cause long term tearing and would destabilize them in flight. Further, I didn’t want to add too much extra weight anywhere on the dragon for the same reasons above. As mentioned in the story, a person will instinctively try to cling to the reins if knocked off a dragon. All that sudden weight ripping the head of a hollow boned creature to the side could easily snap a dragon’s neck. Add to this Craxians preferring more natural go-with-the-flow society and I ended up opting out of most riding assists for dragons.

So, getting into specifics:

 

_ Paeyo _

Paeyo are about three times the size of a horse. A rider laying down on the back of one will generally cover the length of its back from front legs to back legs, with the rider’s head sitting between the shoulder blades. They have a sandy colored underbelly of thick skin with a reddish-brown hue along the rest of their skin. Covering their backs and chests are natural armor made of keratin. They are shaped like and fit together like scale mail, but each piece is about the size of a hand. Domesticated paeyo have these scales filed and smoothed out by their owners. Wild paeyo will crack and wear away theirs naturally.

These scales are also filed to have shaped grooves for riders to grip. A head harness can be attached during training to help learn commands. Paeyo have four legs and two wings. The wings can tuck up under themselves to be protected from attacks from above. The claws on the end of their feet are dexterous and allow for a lot of fine motor movement. Their tails taper quickly, leaving them on the thinner side, and they are fully prehensile.

Paeyo have a gland in their throat protected by a secretion they produce from eating inorganic material. This gland produces a high alkaline liquid on par with lye that can be projectile spit at enemies. They produce this by eating ash or limestone (or other alkaline producing products) and storing it in a pouch that breaks down these substances and fills up the gland. Paeyo will drool prior to spitting this substance because the best protection against alkaline is to water it down. This protects their mouths from any of the substance getting on the sensitive tissue there. This deadly spit is limited to what is stored in the gland at the time of a paeyo using it to attack.

The burning spit is a primary attack for paeyo who will fly above their opponents and spray them, thus the natural armor to protect them. The spit will dissolve away most of the armor on a fallen paeyo, making the scales easier to pull off to get to the meat underneath, as paeyo are opportunistic carnivores and will eat their own kind. Most battles for paeyo take place in the air, as they prefer distance attacks. Close quarter attacks easily break bones, which is something paeyo rarely recover from, so a landed paeyo will be more aggressive as they are aware of the danger it puts them in.

Paeyo are short flight dragons. They prefer to stay within their territory. Their smaller size and heavy armor means that their stamina is lower. Paeyo have a harder time handling long distances and heavy winds. When possible, they will climb and walk to where they need with short glides between locations when necessary. They take shelter in caves and often will dig their own caves in the side of a mesa for their family unit.

The size of paeyo flights varies greatly. Some can be quite large when the temperment of each dragon is compatible. Flights with a single dominant male tend to be small. Dominant males will hoard fertile females and only allow submissive males to stay in the flight, killing any that would challenge their position. These smaller flights have greater mobility in the small areas between bigger territories, but are easily overrun and picked off by bigger flights for food.

Domesticated paeyo are temperamental but loving. They’ll typically stick close to their riders, vacillating between wanting attention, to preferring time to themselves. Some paeyo will sleep close to their riders, some will sleep in a defensive position, and some will only sleep when curled up  _ with _ their rider. Peayo can hold a grudge for a long time but are easily bribed with food. They are sometimes skittish and often distracted.

Pregnant paeyo rarely fly and are taken care of by their mate and family unit. They will nest almost the entire pregnancy. They birth soft shell eggs that break open within a week or two. Pregnancy lasts 5-6 months and they will birth 1-3 eggs. Females are not usually a fan of copulation outside of mating season. Most male paeyo will have sex with each other during extended downtime.

I set the sound of a paeyo to be more bird of prey-esque. Loud, raspy, screeching sounds that could come out long or clipped. They are able to change the pitch and volume of their calls to give them a wide range of options.

 

_ Karusson _

Karusson was a project started many generations back by Swujan. (They are used almost everywhere in Swujan, but not seen nearly as often in the other provinces.) A small species of dragons with long snouts that hunted rodents were known for having the occasional anomaly in which an individual would grow quite large. They blended those anomalies with various compatible species (be they dragon or otherwise) until there was a decent pool of breed worthy karusson, all of mixed genetics. This pool was overbred in order to achieve the level of karusson saturation by the current point of the story.

Like most highly specific dog breeds prized for certain traits, karusson end up not having a lot of genetic diversity since they can’t be bred with any wild karusson (as wild karusson don’t exist). This leaves kaursson with a lot of mental and health issues that require human intervention.

Karusson look like fat Jurassic Park velociraptors with too small wings. Often these wings end up being malformed at birth and are usually trimmed down for that reason. Karusson typically use their wings to slap people, animals, bugs, and each other. They are not capable of flight or gliding. Karusson are not hollow boned and full of muscle, and thus are a lot more sturdy, making them perfect labor animals. They have thick hides and tend to be tortie colored with random patches/speckles/swirls of light and dark brown with white blended into their wings.

Reproduction is mostly human assisted and Karusson give birth to 5-10 soft shell eggs, with only half of them surviving regularly. Early birth is common, but healthy pregnancies last about four months. Karusson don’t have much of a sex drive, though both male and female tend to enjoy humping random objects, dragons, and people when bored. They don’t form a strong family unit bond, but more of a herd mentality.

Karusson are raised with Kocrax’s large horses and learn to respect and fear them. The horses are highly intelligent and tend to control the karusson without much trouble. Since the horses are always living with karusson, they know how to train and order them around better than most humans do. The horses are often exasperated by them, but also protective of them. A scared karusson will run to the horses for help.

I gave karusson more multi-tonal clear calls, partway between a wolf and a bass flute, but with overlapping pitches. In fact, while searching for a sound to compare this to, I came across this video of a contrabass flute doing harmonic flourishes, so imagine this, except sustained and louder: https://youtu.be/y0qHyy6U-98?t=4m35s

 

_ Wyvern _

So I didn't like any of the wyvern references I found and decided to base them off of bats. They can be described as skinny bats with long necks and long tails. Also massive in size. They are the more traditionally sized dragons that people think of, usually growing to the size of a house on the larger end. They have a thick bumpy hide, are hollow boned, and have hard callous-like protrusions on their tail to help them cling to rocks. Their tail is their biggest weapon.

Wyvern are colored like the mountains, in greys, whites, and barely there purple. It helps them to blend in against the backdrop. They grow spiraled “horns” from their head, which are technically antlers since they are hollow. These are shed every two seasons and then regrow again a bit larger to match the growth and age of the dragon. Male horns grow in more elaborate ways to attract females. Since they shed so often, they are collected and used for decoration. The palace is filled with many of them.

Male wyvern are twice as big as a paeyo and females are three times as big as a paeyo. They are the largest dragon species (though his comes with an asterisk to the gyumorin, which I’ll get into in their section) and can fly the longest/farthest. They are capable of handling the harsh winds of high altitude gusts, storms, and ocean updrafts.

Wyvern nest alone in caves in the mountains. They will bond with a mate and keep them over many years and mating seasons. A female wyvern will hunt for herself up until the last few weeks of pregnancy, which lasts about six months. Typically they will have 1-2 hard shell eggs which take another six weeks to hatch. Parents will bond strongly to their children and keep them close until the newly adult dragons follow through on their instincts to find their own territory. Usually the mother dragon will mourn their loss for a month or so after.

A wyvern will hold heated air inside of them to keep them warm in the high altitude.  The longer they hold that heat in them, the hotter it will be when exhaled, meaning it can potentially ignite things on contact including dirt, insects, and various debris that collect around their mouths. A flying dragon will breathe hotter air, but usually won't until it lands and needs to cool off. This can also be used as an attack.

Wyvern hunt in the mountains and the valleys between, but primarily in the ocean. They can cover a lot of distance easily, so flying out to deep water and catching what’s available is an easy and filling meal. They will eat anything from fish to seals to dolphins.

Wyvern roars are the more stereotypical sounding roar of dragons you see in media. That lion/bear/t-rex kind of booming roar. They need to be loud and able to carry over high winds and great distances. Incidentally, wyvern have very good hearing and are easily able to filter out white noise in order to focus on specific sounds they want to hear (like roars of other dragons, calls from their babies, sounds of prey animals, or for domesticated, the horn blasts that call them to their owner).

 

_ K'vishna _

K'vishna are essentially giant komodo dragons with wings. Their wings are big, but not big enough to compensate for their size in flight. The wings attach down the length of their body and bell out when gliding to form an almost paragliding shape. They have thicker bones than most dragons do, and thicker hides with a lot of bumpy protective callouses. They have long dextrous claws that they use to climb and dig with. Their tails are thick and only start to taper halfway down, making tails their primary form of attack.

Their saliva works the same way komodo dragons do, in that a single bite will infect and kill prey over time. Domesticated k'vishna have their teeth cleaned regularly with whatever alcohol is available to help prevent accidental infection in humans. There are two rows of small, sharp teeth lining their wide jaws, and a thinner, more lizard-like tongue that can scent the air.

Wild k'vishna hunt in the canyons. There are many species of goats and sheep that live in the canyons who are sure footed and able to climb near vertically. K'vishna will climb up to them with quick and sure speed, knock them into the air with their tails, and then glide down to where they landed to eat the corpse.

K'vishna do the work of both dragons that ride with guards and the pack animal work of kaursson. They can typically take more of a harness than other dragons as their necks are larger and they don’t fly so the danger is lower for them.

I kept reproduction a bit more similar to komodo dragons for simplicity sake. So only one or two months of pregnancy before digging a hole for 12-30 soft shell eggs. Most eggs will be hunted and eaten by smaller lizards. The eggs take another six months to develop. Wild k'vishna hatchlings will climb the canyon walls immediately and hide in the small spaces, hunting lizards and bugs while they grow. They won’t emerge until mostly grown to prevent being eaten by adult k'vishna. 

Fun fact, komodo dragons can reproduce asexually, with about 1/3 of their eggs being viable. All offspring will be male. I think it’d be cool to keep that ability for k'vishna.

As for how they sound, they don’t have loud calls like the other dragons. They mostly communicate with other k'vishna via smell and touch. They have a range of rumbles, coughs, and hisses that they can produce. A large lizard hissing is a creepy sound, if you’ve not heard it.

 

_ Gyumorin _

To the east, is the province of Dowhea, which mainly resides along the coast. Gyumorin are seafaring dragons that live in the cliffs by the ocean. Unlike other dragons (excluding karusson), gyumorin have a lower wild population than they do domesticated. Gyumorin are fully integrated in life among Dowhea and it’s hard to go anywhere without seeing one.

Gyumorin are also brightly colored in shades of blues, greens, and whites with a rippling effect to help them blend in with the water. Along their backs are tall spikes made of cartilage and covered in smooth, hardened skin. These have multiple purposes in regards to their biology, but also help with camouflage above and in the water.

Gyumorin start out very small and grow very slowly, though they never stop growing. They group together well, sleeping in piles and forming strong family unit bonds for most of their lives. A well cared for gyumorin can outlive a human by a decade or two, so typically they bond with a family of humans and will work with more than one rider.

It is common to see someone with a group of tiny gyumorin riding on their person, curled up in pockets, wrapped around necks or limbs, or nesting in someone’s hair. Since gyumorin are not able to be ridden until late in life, this constant interaction and bonding makes it easier to form commands that smaller gyumorin can carry out, like flying packages back to homes, or going fishing for their families. Having a group of medium sized and well trained gyumorin can make a lot of daily tasks easier.

Riders will typically only fly long term on gyumorin that reach the size of a male wyvern or larger. Riders will stand on the gyumorin’s back and hold onto the spikes, surfer style. Harnesses can be attached to their spikes, and in bigger dragons, can hold the weight of a waist harness. This means the rider has more freedom of movement while in flight, making them the best at aerial attacks. Usually a rider with a gyumorin that large will have multiple smaller gyumorin from their family group that will fly with them as a unit.

In the wild, baby gyumorin will ride on the spikes of their parents and stay close to their family unit most of their lives until their size dictates they have their own territory and family. Pregnancy lasts three months and they will have live births. Babies are fully protected and taken care of by the family. Usually there are 2-5 babies per birth.

Gyumorin hunt in shallow pools when smaller, as they are able to pull crustaceans from their shells. They also eat eggs of other animals during their younger years. Once a little older, they’ll start diving in shallow waters to hunt for fish. The spines on their backs aid in swimming underwater, and their wings aid in swimming on the surface. The spines at the end of their tails act as a paddle/fin. They can hold their breaths underwater up to five minutes.

Larger gyumorin are able to snatch prey from the surface of the water in a dive, or fully dive under the water in order to catch food. Gyumorin of any size are able to swim. Of all the dragons, gyumorin have the easiest time taking off from a flat surface. They also have the lightest and thinnest bones, making them the most vulnerable. To compensate for this, they are venomous. The smaller the gyumorin, the more deadly the venom. The venom sacks are  _ not _ removed in domesticated gyumorin.

To be able to be heard over the noise of the ocean, gyumorin have a high pitched call similar sounding to whistles. Baby gyumorin sound like a piccolo. No matter how small, they can be extremely loud when they want to be. They can also be soft and trilling when they’re happy.

In this story, I wanted to focus on dragons being scary, and that being something for Peter to overcome. This is why I chose to focus on paeyo rather than gyumorin since I find gyumorin to be waaay too cute and though they can be very dangerous, I’d end up constantly writing about how adorable the babies are. Still, gyumorin are my favorite of the dragons.


	8. Dowhea and Ostor

_ Ostor _

Residing in the south, Ostor has a warmer climate. It is comprised mostly of flatlands and canyons. Dry brush that ignite into wildfires during the summer is a common thing to see. Most canyons will have areas where greenlife grows, with trees and shrubs running along the bottom where natural springs run through. Those springs are prone to flooding during heavy rain seasons. This means that cattle, sheep, and goats are the primary source of food. 

Once more, the Craxians have to keep as much fertile greenland free as possible. So in the drier slopes, attached to the cliff face, is where homes are built. They cover the available rock and delve into the canyon walls where possible. The city will also climb up over the tops of the cliffs and onto flat land, though everything is huddled close to the life source of the canyons.

Sheep and goats are raised in the canyons themselves, as they are sure footed and can climb the rock face easier than a k'vishna can. Larger cattle, life buffalo, are kept to the flatlands and have a small group of riders that keep them safe and herd them to new grasslands, and occasionally into the basin of the canyon itself.

Ostor is closest to the limestone vein, so the inside of homes tend to be very white washed while the outsides are covered in natural rock and sandstone. In between all of the vertical homes are small tended gardens, usually covered in a metal cage to keep goats from climbing up and stealing the food. (It’s common to find goats just chilling out on top of houses.)

There's a limestone deposit area that cuts off paeyo territory and the beginning of k'vishna territory, which eventually leads into Ostor. The canyons don't often extend out close enough to the sea, so there aren't any major ports directly to the south, but there is to the southeast. There's a safe zone between k'vishna and gyumorin territory. 

To the far south are small fishing villages that will have a group of people go out to attend them when the shallows are full of fish and then pack up and head back to the canyons when the season is over. There is a larger town to the southeast near the border of Dowhea that holds Ostor’s only port. They trade with Dowhea and occasionally other countries willing to make the trip. There are a few deep sea fishing boats, but nothing large enough to make the long trip to Q’otha.

Dowhea and Ostor tend to stay on bad terms, politically speaking. Ostor’s government runs much the same as Swujan’s, with the title of chief passing down to either the chosen heir or anyone who challenges and wins. However, there are many opposing political factions in Ostor with very dedicated beliefs as to how the country is best run. One misstep by the current chief can easily lead to a challenge. Ostor changes chiefs fairly quickly for this reason, though Chief Nathan Summers has held his position for a long while and has the scars to show for it.

Holding together such a fractured province is a difficult job, which means many things slip through the cracks. Crime rates in Ostor are nearly double what they are in the other provinces and often remain unpunished. The guards are typically loyal to their political factions or whoever is paying the biggest bribes. For these reasons, Ostor is rarely sought out for any long term trade or alliance agreements since there is no guarantee that they will continue to comply to the agreements.

Most political factions dislike how Dowhea is run and want to cut off all ties from them. This leads Ostor’s only port city to act independently of whatever current political structure is in power. Since it’s difficult for Ostor to mobilize troops, this goes largely unchecked. The port city flourishes with trade, fishing, herding, and a few small fields. It has its own group of guards loyal to the current nomark in power to protect the citizens thereof. 

Most of what is known of Kocrax in other countries comes from information gleaned in that port city. This is actually the birthplace of the common rumors of “Dragons are green.” and “Craxians live in caves.” Visitors would only hear that most of Ostor lives inside the canyon walls, that means they “live in caves.” Also, that the dragons in Ostor look like “giant winged lizards” and lizards in Floa Bral and surrounding countries tend to be shades of green to match the fauna.

 

_ Dowhea _

The province to the east resides mostly near the oceanfront. There are many coves and bays to build around, along with straits and tidal channels. The islands off the coast are mostly inhabited as well. Kocrax having advancements in water filtration as it is, this leads Dowhea to have the biggest water source in all of the provinces. Implementing irrigation, they are able to maintain all available fertile land for food production.

Incidentally, the abundance of food, water, and agriculture makes Dowhea the biggest province containing the most people. Most of their farmland is further south, with rocky cliffs in the north, though the northern areas have seafood and Mediterranean type fruit readily available. Traveling too far inland means encountering the northern mountains where the wyvern reside or toeing the line of paeyo or k'vishna territories. So most life in Dowhea remains coastal.

Citizens of other provinces seeking a better life and having the means to travel will end up Dowhea. Because of their large abundance of people and limited space to expand their landmass, Dowhea’s government mostly focuses on maintaining the prosperity of their citizens. This makes the people very devoted to their government and the choices made. When the people speak, Dowhea’s government listens and finds a solution.

Because this method has worked for so long, there is nobody willing to contest how the ruling system in Dowhea has changed. That is to say, all government officials are women and the position of chief can only be held by a woman and passed down to or challenged by a woman. This has led to a cultural belief that men are only good for being part of the working class or fighting small scale battles. Typically, men in Dowhea will defer to the women in their households to make important decisions.

It should be no surprise that some men don’t like being considered second class citizens. Ostor being closer and less dangerous to get to, discontent men will escape there. This is part of what causes such bad blood between the two provinces.

Buildings in Dowhea are made of sandstone and wrapped in thatch to protect it from the elements. They use limestone for indoor accents much the same as Swujan does. Flooding and wind damage from hurricanes is the main concern for cities, but homes typically have a raised base with drains to help water flow through and prevent indoor flooding during these times. Homes closer to the north also take advantage of the cliffs and build vertically like the rest of Kocrax does.


	9. Thoughts on Language and Culture

_ Thoughts on languages _

 

Understanding subtle nuance in other cultures is an important thing that I feel many take for granted. Learning how to give a greeting, when, and in what way depending on the level of authority can be very different in each culture. Some cultures nod their heads in order to say “no” which is just asking for a misunderstanding. Another great example is the non-committal Indian head bobble that doesn’t really have a one-to-one body language translation with anything in American culture (but I love it so much). Phrases and idioms can also vary wildly.

Being in a leadership position means having to learn these things in order to not offend the peoples you’re trying to peaceably work with. Figuring out what you need to know is much, much harder because people take such little phrases and body language cues for granted.

Craxians are mostly using "husband" and "wife" as slang terms in order to communicate with other countries. They have come to associate husband to Arev and wife to Sakit. Traditionally, Craxan doesn't have a difference in word choices. They just have partners. But they have a hard time communicating that outside of their language because it doesn't exist in other languages. The slang terms have become common use, however, as people enjoy the connotation it now has to the gods. 

This also means that Arev-Arev relationships, regardless of gender, would have both participants called husbands. Also, since Craxians don't get married, per se, that further removes the understanding in words from other languages. Craxian bonding ceremonies, are considered much more important than the silly marriage process of other countries, but it's not frowned upon to have a life long relationship with someone without ever being bonded to them.

 

_ Thoughts on various cultural idiosyncrasies _

 

Ellie was born Arev touched, so in a way, she's very much like her father — crass, emotional, full of fite me, and a bit of a troublemaker. She's aiming for Ts'av's favor, so she's trying really hard to be wise. Ellie has spent a good 5 years going over in her head how she would talk to the new wife and what she would say. So there was definitely a reason for her philosophical discussions and lessons on culture. She came into that talk prepared from about every angle. She takes her potential leadership  _ very _ seriously. 

Krocrax's strong emphasis on individual actualization and individual relationships may very well more closely mimic animal-dragon-lifestyles but animals don't partake in trade agreements on a more than one-on-one basis. So the concept of trade doesn’t seem natural, and Craxians pride themselves on being more in tune with the earth, thus making them better than other countries. This is the basis for a lot of their reticence for change. 

Some ancient cultures (even sexually progressive ones) believed that sucking cock was a bad thing because it befowled the mouth, and thus anything that the person said in the future. Being called a cocksucker was the equivalent of being called a shitposter in the middle of an intellectual debate. Fights would be had. Thus, blow jobs were rare outside of the sex workers in Floa Bral, and Peter had never experienced one prior to Wade.

In a conversation with a group of people discussing what it felt like to start living in an entirely different culture, food was the most prominent thing all of them mentioned that they missed. Even food that you didn’t like all that much became something you craved because it was so common and tied to your previous life. I felt it would be remiss if I didn’t add a little of that in the story.

Roots and branches were common toothbrush replacements back in the day (in areas that actually cared about tooth health). You can still use this method today if you’re curious:

http://www.methowvalleyherbs.com/2013/04/brush-your-teeth-with-roots.html

The Priestess and the licorice root was a subtle joke about how bad oral health was in Europe during the middle ages.

I wasn't able to get into it, but on the night of the ceremony, the kids entertain the dragons by taking turns playing them music. Paeyo kinda rumble and chill as they listen. Karusson like to sing along like puppies. It is expected that more than a few of the dragons will try to join in on the adult fun and fornicate. Dragons participating is seen as a sign of great luck and success to the bonding.

At this point, it's probably obvious that sex isn't a taboo in Kocrax, and though I will often make nods to that, I don't intend to go in depth on how that affects Craxian culture. At least, not in this story

I think deleting homophobia in a culture clash story would be super disingenuous. It can be a huge factor in people's lives when they grow up and that's something to overcome. It's like a man wanting to wear a sundress just because he likes dresses. In American society especially, there would be a thousand questions and judgements thrown at him. Even if that person was okay with wanting to wear a dress, actually doing so would still be a struggle because of the society around him.

So I definitely want Peter to struggle with those issues. I want him to be shocked, offended, confused, and scared by it. He needs to feel those emotions in order to process it all and discover the irrationality behind it. And I want Peter to come to his own conclusions about things after living in a world that values societal rules and modestly, and then moving to a world that gives very little care for such things. It's half the fun of writing the fic.

**Author's Note:**

> http://thatvixenchick.tumblr.com
> 
> So by popular request, my cats have their own tumblr now. https://vixen13scats.tumblr.com/


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